


spooky scary spiders skittering down your spine

by wisterispidey



Series: irondad bingo: halloween edition [12]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Angst, Arachnophobia, Awesome May Parker (Spider-Man), Family Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Parent Tony Stark, Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, i will eat ur kneecaps if u don’t appreciate aunt may
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-06 05:30:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21221375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wisterispidey/pseuds/wisterispidey
Summary: Peter Parker strongly disliked spiders, hands down—he didn’t hate them necessarily but every time he saw them he floored it.(bingo prompt: spiders)





	spooky scary spiders skittering down your spine

**Author's Note:**

> this is like 2k words of me projecting my arachnophobia but also begrudging acceptance. but i will continue to floor it if i see one — and uncle ben dude i’m so sorry i’ve written your death like five times now i’m SORRY

i.

Peter’s earliest memory revolving a spider was when he was seven.

He was carefully checking over his math homework answers when he saw something move in the corner of his eye.

Peter wearily looked up, looking straight at a small, brown house spider, its tiny legs skittering closer and closer to his paper.

He tried his best to love every animal he met but there was just something about spiders that made them so _creepy._

Maybe it was their legs, or how fast they moved or how they just appeared out of nowhere—he just didn’t like them.

And no, no that was bad, the spider was getting closer—he didn’t wanna hurt the spider or anything, all he wanted was to finish his addition, okay?

“Um, hey, man can you like—not?” 

The spider stilled and Peter had a suspicion it was doing it on purpose.

Peter kept his eyes laser focused on the spider, daring it to move any closer to his paper. 

And it moved—this time it was on top of his paper and nope, nope not today.

He scrambled back, knocking the chair to the ground but you know what it’s cool, he refused to deal with the spider today.

“Auntie May? Uncle Ben?” he called out, finally finding his aunt and uncle in the kitchen.

“Yeah, bud?” Ben answered, May looking up from her latest book.

“Can we just head out for a bit—call the exterminator, maybe? Thanks!”

He tossed on his shoes, missing the confused glances his parental figures sent him.

“Peter, baby what’s up?” May called after him.

Peter sent her a sheepish look as he mumbled his reply.

“There’s um, a spider and it’s creepy, Auntie May.”

Loud laughter boomed in the room, and Peter gave a halfhearted glared to his uncle.

“It’s not _that_ funny,” he pouted, but he let his uncle pull him into a hug nonetheless.

“Alright, Pete, we’ll all head out, how about Thai, tonight?”

He grinned, every trace of the spider already leaving his mind.

ii.

Peter was spending the night at Ned’s house when it happened.

They were watching Rogue One when something crawled across the TV screen.

Normally, Peter wouldn’t have cared that much—except it was right in front of him and he couldn’t just ignore it.

Not when said something had eight legs, and it looked way too hairy and those eyes could never be trusted.

He jumped and fell off the bed, Ned snickering in the background.

“Pete, dude—dude you just,” his best friend breathed.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, just make it go away okay?”

Ned nodded, and grabbed the nearest book he could see, stopping when Peter shook his head.

“You can’t just kill the spider, Ned,” he hissed, still eyeing the spider.

“Bro, are you listening to yourself right now?”

Peter rolled his eyes, ”Just find like a cup or something man.”

Ned sighed but got up anyway, grabbing a tissue before carefully catching the spider, being careful not to crush it.

“Only for you, Pete,” he rolled his eyes, but no one missed the affectionate smile on his face, “only for you.”

iii.

To be honest, Peter didn’t know how he got here.

Actually, yes he did, he was a dumbass and he probably shouldn’t have left the group.

But the Oscorp tour was just _boring_ and he already read up on what the tour guide lady was trying to explain his class.

It really sucked that they couldn’t have gone to Stark Industries, but at least Oscorp was better than _Hammer Tech._

And he also knew he probably shouldn’t have went into the room that clearly allowed authorized personnel only—oh, and there was a big neon sign too that said _DANGER ZONE!_

But in his defense, they shouldn’t have left the door wide open, he was a scientist, it was in his blood to investigate.

The room was dimly lit, a purple glow washing over it. 

Peter froze when he saw a bunch of glowing dots move nearby and holy shit they were spiders, but _glow in the dark_ spiders.

Okay, maybe he should just leave now, this was not one of his best decisions.

He instinctively hit the back of his neck when he felt a sharp sting, the small lifeless body of a spider hitting the ground.  
__

When Peter got on the bus, he felt like shit.

“Dude, you look like shit,” Ned whispered as he sat next to Peter.

“Thanks, man,” Peter rasped, why the hell was it so hot?

Ned patter his shoulder, sending him a sympathetic frown as they headed back to school.

By the time Peter walked into his apartment, he was already half asleep, the spider bite on his neck did _not_ look good.

“Hey, honey,” May called from the living room, “how was your field trip?”

“S’alright, gonna sleep,” Peter answered, not even noticing the concerned glance his aunt sent him.

He managed to make it to his bed before he passed out, the slight ache he felt all over knocking him out.

Peter woke up to pain. His head hurt, his arms hurt, everything _hurt._

He was pretty sure he had a fever but it was absolutely freezing.

Sweat covered his body as he lay there, paralyzed to his bed—every inhale of air stung, the street lights outside were too bright.

He could hear someone walking and late night conversations clearly, too loud, it was all too much.  
__

When Peter woke up, everything was so _clear._

Weird, but that was the least of his problems right now, he was late for school and Ben was gonna kill him for being late again.

He scrambled around his room, yanked his door open and holy shit he broke his door.

Okay, nevermind—this was _not_ the least of his problems.

iv.

Peter couldn’t even tell if the spider bite was good or not.

He didn’t need to wear his glasses anymore, but he kinda liked them too, so that kinda sucked.

The not having asthma part was cool though, and he couldn’t exactly punch Flash back—but he was stronger now so that was nice.

But he was pretty sure his anxiety was multiplied times ten or some shit because something was wrong in this classroom and he didn’t like it.

“Ned, dude, doesn’t it feel weird,” he whispered to his friend, ignoring the sharp stare his teacher gave him.

“Nah, man, what are you on about?” Ned asked curiously.

Peter shook his head, trying his best to focus on the teacher’s lesson when he felt that whatever—tingle? warning?—again.

He scanned the room again, searching for whatever was bothering him and wow, okay _that_ was not good.

A spider rested on the teacher’s desk, his classmates were absolutely oblivious to it but Peter couldn’t tear his eyes away.

Some part of his brain supplied that it was a wolf spider—why did he know that?—and he did not like it.

A spider might have given him some cool powers, but that entire process was shit, ten out of ten would never do again.

And Peter was pretty sure he was imagining it, but that spider seemed to sense he knew he was there too.

Honestly, he would’ve been fine with the spider chilling there, except he was sitting at the front of the class and the spider was a couple feet away.

Nope, nope, not today.

“Um, Ms. Lee?” Peter asked, still eyeing the arachnid.

“Yes, Peter?” 

Okay, how was he supposed to say this without freaking her out.

“So don’t freak out yet,” he paused, “but there’s a spider on your desk, ma’am.”

A shriek and something—it was Ms. Lee’s book—hit Peter in the face before he could even think of catching it.

Stupid Spider Sense.

v.

“Uncle Ben, please, I’m not a kid anymore!”

Peter stormed out the apartment building, ignoring the cries of his uncle behind him.

“Peter, I don’t care if you’re 14 or 73,” his uncle called after him, “you’ll always be _my_ kid.”

And maybe he should’ve listened to him, but he was _angry._

He stayed out a little late, and he knew it was his fault for missing curfew, but he wasn’t a fucking kid anymore, he could take care of himself.

Peter had powers too, but no one needed to know about that.

He whirled around, startling Ben.

“Ben, look I get it, I fucked up but please, just listen—“

Someone moved into his sight, a burly figure obscuring his vision.

He yelped when he felt something cold press against the side of his head, his entire body screaming _gun! danger!_

“Hey! Stop, leave him alone, he’s just a _kid,”_ Ben yelled.

Peter felt the gun move away from his head, the person turned towards his uncle.

No, no, this couldn't happen, why the fuck couldn‘t he move, damn it.

_BANG!_

Ben dropped to the ground, red staining his chest and Peter rushed forward to his uncle.

His fault, this was his fault, he pressed down on the wound, trying to remember anything he learned in first aid.

“Ben, Uncle Ben, please,” he sobbed, “don’t go, you can’t go, I’m sorry.”

Peter could hear his uneven breaths, barely there, his uncle’s warm brown eyes were glassy, nearly lifeless.

“S’okay,” he felt a faint squeeze in his hand.

He heard his uncle’s last breath, the sound of his heart stopping.

Peter could make out that familiar sound of a spider moving around like second nature now. And he heard it loud and clear this time in the silent alleyway, like it was mocking him.

A spider had given him powers and in the end they were _useless._

Why hadn’t he just moved, done something, anything, he could’ve saved Ben, his uncle wouldn’t be _dead._

The tears felt like fire against his cheeks, burning him with guilt and regret—how was he gonna tell May?

vi.

Peter was stressed.

But in a good way stressed—wait, is that even possible?

Either way, he was really stressed because May’s surprise birthday party was in a few hours and he still couldn’t think of what to get for her.

Pepper said she would handle decorating for the party, and Mr. Stark said he would handle food and Peter was pretty sure Happy was making heart eyes at his aunt but he had a present for May to worry about.

Maybe he shouldn’t have procrastinated, but he could do this, he was Spider-Man.

When he subtly tried to ask May what she wanted for her birthday, all she said was _I’ll love anything you get me, honey._

And Peter loved her for that, he truly did but she was his Aunt, basically his mom, and he couldn’t just get her _anything._

So he panicked and called Mr. Stark.

“Hey kid, what’s up?” he answered, and Peter calmed down a little, Mr. Stark would help him.

“I’m so, so fucked,” he started, “I don’t know what to get May, Mr. Stark, her party’s in like three hours!”

Before Tony could get a word in, Peter was already going off again.

“And then I’ll be a terrible kid, who doesn’t know what to get their aunt, I’m gonna fail—”

“Kid, breathe, you know when you start freaking out my blood pressure rises?”

Peter nodded sheepishly before taking a couple deep breaths.

“First, you’re a good kid, Pete, the best,” Tony’s fondness was evident over the call, “and second, maybe look around your room and you’ll get an idea?”

He looked around his room, taking in the laundry he still had to put away and the Lego set Ned had gotten him a while ago.

“Anyways, don’t trust me with gift advice, kiddie, I got Pepper a giant rabbit once,” the man snorted and Peter laughed.

“Oh shit, Pep needs my help, good luck kiddo, love you!”

A click and the call ended, and Peter still didn’t know what to get May.

He looked around again when he felt a sudden prick in the back of his neck. 

Peter looked around again, spotting the small spider in a corner of the ceiling, hanging by a thread as it started the beginning of its web.

And usually he might’ve complained about the spider not paying rent to live here, but he just got an idea.

“You can live here for another week before you pack your bags, dude.”  
__

He grinned at the sight in front of him.

Their apartment was cleaner than usual after Peter had carefully cleaned it, and Pepper had hung up a banner that read _Happy Birthday May!_ in gold, cursive lettering.

May’s favorite Thai and Italian dishes were on the kitchen counter, and a pile of presents was stacked on the living room table.

Peter smiled at the thought of his present for May—it took him a couple tries to get the formula of a newer version of the web fluid right. And then he ended up weaving a bracelet for May.

The overall bracelet was simple, except for the single charm on it. It was just a pearl, but Peter knew how much it meant to May.

The first gift Uncle Ben had ever gotten her was a pair of pearl earrings, and they weren’t the same pearls but Peter still hoped she liked them.

“Hey boys,” Pepper whispered, “she just texted, she’ll be here in a minute, hide!”

Everyone gathered to their assigned hiding spots, waiting with baited breath as they heard the doorknob rattle.

“SURPRISE!”

May sweared as everyone popped into her view, quickly recovering with a wide grin on her face.

Mission surprise party for May was complete.

“May, May wait,” Peter stumbled over to her, “I know it’s early but can you open my gift?”

“Of course, honey,” she grinned warmly before opening the box.

Everyone pretended not to notice her teary eyes as she slipped the bracelet on. 

“I love it, baby, thank you,” she whispered, pulling Peter into a hug.

A camera flash—Peter was pretty sure it was Pepper—and Tony’s laughter completed the moment and Peter savored it.

Spiders weren’t _that_ bad.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are highly appreciated!
> 
> reviews and criticism are appreciated as well.
> 
> thank you so much for reading <3000


End file.
